Should the Pelicans have kept Noel?

[El Kabong]

Dude already having injuries, haven't seen play an NBA game. Who knows how he'll pan out..

True, but would you rather have a guy not play who's on a rookie contract, or trade Noel and another first so you can have Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans taking up a ton of your capspace?

[Rocketswin2013]

The only similarity Nerlens Noel and David Robinson have is that they are(were) both very undersized weight wise and have pretty impressive defensive instincts.....

[RidonKs]

the response to the trade was pretty unanimous on this site and imo for good reason. even if noel is plagued by injuries for his entire career or just flat out busts, it remains a bad trade at the time. i wasn't convinced of that fact at the time but after watching jrue and seeing the pg talent continuing to rise around the league, there's just no way to justify it even in hindsight.

so yes they should have kept noel. though after his having missed his first year, they're tentatively better off having shipped him out.

[blablabla]

Jrue Holiday is not even a top 10 point guard, now of course we don't know how Noel will pan out but he impressed me during his stay at Kentucky and I think he could have the potential to be a very scary defensive player in the NBA. For example the Rockets gave up a lot less for a franchise player in James Harden. I of course understand the move from a business perspective, the Pelicans are under a new ownership and wanted to draw fans into the Arena with Playoff basketball, injury problems fvcked those plans up and right now they are stuck with 4 big contracts but they are far from doomed by the time Davis reaches his prime they are going to have plenty of cap space to put a championship team around him.
I don't think we would be having this discussion right now if they reached a playoff spot.

[Embers]

If they knew they were going to get Tyreke they should have never got Jrue. They should have backed Evans in at PG and kept Noel + picks.

Still a chance at keeping pick. They may get a pick inside the top 5.

I hope they fluke pick 1

Davis + Embiid would be hilarious

[bigt]

They should have just for the chance to have Block City. Peli's have been plagued by injuries this season so it would have been no different this season, plus they would of kept this season's pick.

I think for a small market team like the Pelicans, their team needs something special for people to care. Having Davis in the first place of course helps, but I think Davis/Noel would have got people watching more than Davis/Holiday

[DMAVS41]

Jrue Holiday is not even a top 10 point guard, now of course we don't know how Noel will pan out but he impressed me during his stay at Kentucky and I think he could have the potential to be a very scary defensive player in the NBA. For example the Rockets gave up a lot less for a franchise player in James Harden. I of course understand the move from a business perspective, the Pelicans are under a new ownership and wanted to draw fans into the Arena with Playoff basketball, injury problems fvcked those plans up and right now they are stuck with 4 big contracts but they are far from doomed by the time Davis reaches his prime they are going to have plenty of cap space to put a championship team around him.
I don't think we would be having this discussion right now if they reached a playoff spot.

Sure, but why basically waste key years in which they could have developed the players around Davis that will be there for title runs.

Now it's going to be reliant on free agency stuff. They don't have their pick this year either.

So they essentially traded the 6th pick and 10th pick for Jrue Holiday. I just don't see why a team that is not even likely to make the playoffs for a year or two would do that. It makes no sense at all.

And so when all these contracts are up, they are going to have to find all the players to put around Davis. instead, if they had kept the picks and been bad this year and next...they'd have 3 top ten picks around Davis while they built up cap room and allowed their young guys to all get burn.

lets say they make the playoffs and even win a series next year. is that even a good thing for this team? think about all the guys...you gonna bring back eric gordon when he expires in 2016?

That is the sick thing...this team, even if it gets momentum over the next 2 years...will likely not look at all the same in the future.

[Thorpesaurous]

Hell yes...especially as it would have allowed them keep their pick this year...and avoid the cap hell they got themselves into.

The Sixers future looks great...they are going to get potentially the first and like 8th pick.

The Pelicans now most likely don't get their pick this year unless it falls in the top 3 iirc.

Haha...just awful.

This is it. Even if Noel never suits up and they could pass his rookie contract onto insurance, it'd be better than giving up a first for the right to overpay Jrue Holliday.

[Random_Guy]

How about we wait until Noel play? right now it looks terrible for the pelicans, but jrue is a proven player and all star. For all we know the 8th pick could be a bust and Noel might be the next greg oden(I hope not becauseI hate player injuries), but it is what it is.
These sort of shit need to be evaluated a few years down the line, not now when both of the players that the pelicans traded has never played a single second on a nba court.

[2LeTTeRS]

Why is this thread made every 3-4 months when every guy but Oladipo who was picked instead of Noel sucked (especially Bennett, Porter, and Len)? Say what you will about Jrue but he had much more of an impact than any of those guys.